Taj Mahal and Red Fort

This morning we have our mojo back. Up at 4.30am to see something called the Taj Mahal?

There it is!

We assumed it was a temple, but no Shah Kahan the Mughal Emperor commissioned it after his favourite wife died given my birth to their 14th son.

The four minarets lean away slightly from the Taj so that if there was a quake they wouldn't damage it.

There's no doubt about it, it really is beautiful. And so peaceful at this time of the morning. 

It took 22 years to build and about 2000 men. Rumour has it that the artisans who worked on it were killed so that they could not make anything so beautiful again!

The Taj Mahal sits on the South bank of the Yamuna River.

There's a fair bit of scaffolding on it at the moment 

The marble constantly changes colour in the changing light. The detail is quite mind blowing.

We are allowed into the mausoleum but photography is not.

Colourful ladies.

It's a thing of joy but wonder how much pain was caused to build it. He could've just written a sonnet or made a nice statue.

We take a break, have the strangest scrambled eggs, rest abit and the ln grab an autorick, this time to the Red Fort.

It's huge!! Certainly bigger than the one in Delhi and only 20% of it is open to the public.

Boys with a great big bath tub!

Admiring the detail.

There's that Taj again!

More impressive detail. The carving and sculpting is so fine and perfect, no wonder these places took tens of years to build.

The garden are really lovely too.

Boys befriend some chipmunks.

And we're calling it a day. Early train to Jaipur tomorrow. Well, if it's on time, which we are not holding out much hope for. 

India is beautiful, it's tough but it's so rich in life and history and culture and religion. 

My last few posts reflected our emotions at the time. There's alot to deal with here but we are still glad we came and looking forward to exploring some more.